Drugs Raid in Kingshurst

COMMUNITY INFORMATION LEADS TO CANNABIS RAID IN KINGSHURST

SOLIHULL Police raided a house in Kingshurst this weekend - seizing 25 cannabis plants following a tip-off from the public.

Members of the public told police they suspected cannabis was being grown at an address on Oakthorpe Drive, Kingshurst and that the address was guarded by two dogs.

Police raided the house on Saturday, 7 May with help from the dog team who were able to subdue two rottweilers.  Police found that a bedroom in the house was filled with 25 mature cannabis plants.  The plants were seized and destroyed.

Police also found that the electricity meter box had been tampered with so as to steal electricity to feed the cannabis cultivation system.  The electricity board had to be called to make the meter safe.

The owner of the house, a 29 year old man, was arrested on suspicion of cultivation of cannabis and abstraction of electricity. He is currently on police bail pending further enquiries

Acting Sergeant Tom Jones from the Kingshurst and Fordbridge team said: “We always act on information passed to us from the public.  In this case a tip-off from the public has resulted in the successful closure of a cannabis factory.  We will continue to stamp out drug cultivation across Solihull to make the borough a safer place to live.  If anyone has concerns about cannabis cultivation I would urge them to call us in the knowledge that where we can act we do.”

If you have concerns about drug production or sales in your community please call your neighbourhood team on 0345 133 5000.

Drug raids in SmithsWood

One of my teams working out of Chelmsley Wood Police Station have just finished a sustained period of law enforcement activity against drug dealers in the north of Solihull Borough.

The Smithswood Neighbourhood team under the guise of Operation Gardener a part of the force wide Operation Serve and Protect. The operation was possible thanks to the large amount of community intelligence the public gave to us.

Operation Gardener was implemented in Smithswood on 18th of January this year and concluded this week. The aim was to combat the production, sale and misuse of drugs as this had been highlighted by the community in the many meetings we held with them. We also believed that the drug users were committing other crimes to fund their habits, particularly shoplifting in the local Town centre and other property crimes such as breaking into cars.

As a result of this operation we executed 28 warrants and on 26 occasions we used a forced entry to secure the evidence. We made 18 arrests, from which 5 people were charged with possession of class B drugs , 3 were charged with possession with intent to supply class B drugs, & 5 were charged with production of class B drugs. We also issued nearly £500 worth of penalty notices to locals in possession of small amounts of cannabis.

A drug offender led away to answer for his actions

In addition we recovered a taser for which we charged the occupier with possession of offensive weapon; we seized 3 dangerous dogs.

This period of enforcement was only made possible by community members coming forward with information about criminals in their area!

An example of a typical 'cannabis factory' we uncovered

This is a clear message from the law abiding citizens of Solihull that drugs and drug dealers will not be tolerated in their area.

Anyone with information on drug dealers should call us on 0345 113 5000 and we will act on your information!